Alex Olesker

Alex Olesker is a Technology Research Analyst at Crucial Point LLC that specializes in science, technology, and security. He has experience working with law enforcement, private intelligence, multi-national corporations, and academia, and has written and lectured on terrorism, international security, infrastructure protection, investigations, intelligence, policing, cybersecurity, and analytics. Alex graduated from Georgetown University's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service.

Social media, Web 2.0, the Internet of Things, mobile computing, and the expansion of sensors is allowing more information to be gathered than ever before which, coupled with Big Data analytics, offers unprecedented insight into the needs, patterns, and habits of users, citizens, and consumers. Though it leads to better

Augmented reality is a composite, real time view of the world overlaid with computer information or graphics. Augmented reality has been getting a lot of attention since the announcement of Google Glass, a glasses frame with smartphone capabilities, and other similar projects, but the idea dates back to the 1960. In

Known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, there isn’t much on these five uninhabited islands between China, Taiwan, and Japan besides goats and strife. Recent disputes over the islands amid rising nationalism and unstable internal politics in both China and Japan, however, have put relations between the two

Unmanned aerial vehicles have become the signature of American offensive military operations. While far from perfect, drones are now critical to achieving US goals in an effective and efficient manner. But how do the nations considered the United States’ closest “near peers,” Russian and China, compare in this critical capability?

On Friday morning, August 24, police shot a man who had murdered a former coworker and drew a gun on them outside of the Empire State Building. The two officers shot the man dead, hitting him 7 to 9 times from fewer than 10 feet, but they also injured 9

On Friday, August 17, three members of a Russian feminist punk rock band were sentenced to two years in prison for singing an anti-Putin song at Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Savior. They were found guilty of hooliganism and religious hatred against the Russian Orthodox Church, though the verdict was transparently a message for other

Analysts, policymakers, and defenders often paint a bleak picture of the cybersecurity landscape. The Internet was built for resiliency, convenience, and openness, not security, and barriers to entry are low, meaning that criminals, foreign intelligence, activists, and states have many opportunities to launch countless attacks, especially if they are automated.